It's Raining!
by Cloud Sage
Summary: Team 7 goes on their first C mission. A C mission can't be that hard, can it?
1. Chapter 1

**It's Raining!**

After taking on several months of class D missions, Kakashi finally decided his team was ready for a C level mission. He had carefully watched them over these crucial first months to see if they were developing the skills they needed which would help them to become productive ninja. The newly made ninja were never told, but the real reason they went on easy D level missions was to test the teams out to see if they worked well together. A team which did not work well together could easily mean the death of a teammate or the people who they were supposed to be protecting.

His team was…interesting, to say the least. The family backgrounds of the three combined had enough complications to fill several books. First there was Sasuke, whose brother had slain his entire clan. Tragedies such as this were often enough to make many full grown ninja quit their job, but young Sasuke had only resolved to try harder at becoming a ninja. The ice cold personality which Sasuke had developed as a result of the death of his clan had worried many of his teachers and also worried the family which he was staying with. When Iruka had learned that Kakashi was taking on Sasuke as one of his students, he had worriedly come to Kakashi to talk about Sasuke.

"Sasuke has never really been interested in anything but techniques" Iruka had said to Kakashi.

"Is that a problem?" Kakashi had asked, "Usually a large amount of focus is an asset in a ninja."

"Normally we don't get concerned about that sort of thing, but since his family was murdered… well, all of the teachers have always been a little worried about him." "Especially" added Iruka "since Sasuke never showed any sadness about the whole thing."

"Mmmm, keeps it all inside maybe?" Kakashi asked.

"That's what I think" Iruka confirmed.

Kakashi had turned towards Iruka with a knowing look. "And I suppose you want me to try to get him to open up to me, eh?"

"Well… both of you have a tendency to keep your thoughts hidden from others, I thought maybe you might be the best person to understand him" Iruka had said.

Kakashi had grudgingly promised Iruka to see if he could get the boy to open up to him a little.

Naruto was the next member of the team which puzzled Kakashi. Everyone knew about Naruto, who had a tragic past to rival Sasuke's. Instead of becoming withdrawn, like Sasuke had, Naruto had become the exact opposite. He jumped into everything with enthusiasm and energy, and nothing seemed to get him down. When they were doing the D missions, Kakashi had to admire his unending energy and fanatic devotion to the mission, even if the mission got a little boring.

Sakura was the last member of his team. She seemed to be pretty happy, but something that Iruka had told Kakashi after their conversation about Sasuke kept surfacing in Kakashi's mind. Iruka had told him Sakura's family was going through messy problems, whatever that meant. Kakashi had told Iruka he would keep an eye on her as well as Sasuke. After this statement, Iruka had playfully pointed out to Kakashi he really did not have any eyes to spare, since he kept his sharingan covered most of the time. In response, Kakashi had casually tried to push Iruka off of the building they were sitting on, but Iruka gracefully dodged, laughed, and waved to Kakashi as he left.

All of these things were in the back of Kakashi's mind as he informed his students about the mission which they would be going on.

They were all very excited to finally be getting a C mission, but rather incredulous when they learned what exactly the mission entailed.

"Delivering mail is a C mission?" Naruto suspiciously asked when Kakashi announced their mission.

Kakashi sighed. He had been expecting this sort of reaction of disappointment from Naruto. Naruto had probably been expecting something much more exciting. As he was about to explain why mail delivery was ranked as a C mission, Sakura did it for him.

"Naruto, mail delivery to neighboring countries is very important" Sakura said. "It helps to keep diplomatic ties open and if any of the important letters are stolen, in the worst case it could lead to a misunderstanding which could cause a war."

"Exactly" Kakashi said and nodded. "This mission is more important than it seems. We are unlikely to run into any really big trouble, but it could be quite dangerous." "Anyway" he continued, "be sure to pack carefully since we'll be going into Water country and the rainy season should be starting soon." All three of his students nodded.

"How long do you think this mission will take?" asked Sasuke.

Kakashi thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "I'd say no more than several weeks" "Most of that time will be taken up by traveling from here to there." "Are there any more questions?" he asked them. They shook their heads, although Naruto looked like he wanted to say something about mail delivery not being important enough for a C mission. "Alright then, I will see you here on Thursday at the usual time" he said.

As he left the training area, Kakashi thought to himself: _this mission can't go that badly wrong. Can it?_

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 2

Thursday morning arrived bright and clear, which Kakashi took as a good omen for their mission and promptly went back to sleep. After about another hour of sleep, the persistent sunshine woke him again and he decided to finally get up. He had gotten everything they would need for the trip the day before; all of the supplies were in a heap near his front door. On his way to the kitchen he stared vaguely at the supplies and tried to remember how he had gotten them home the night before. Oh yes; it was that useful little shrinking jutsu, he hardly ever used it since he was rarely the one to carry the supplies on other missions.

He shrunk the packages of supplies again and regretfully wished he could shrink the weight of the supplies as well as their bulk. The supplies he gathered together with everything he would be taking with him and slung the bags over his shoulders. He took one last look around his apartment to see if he had forgotten anything as he made his way to the door. He locked the door of the apartment behind him and started heading towards a grassy field near the training grounds; there was only one thing left to do before he went on his mission.

Meanwhile, Kakashi's students had been waiting near the bridge for about an hour. All three of them were impatient to be leaving since this was their first mission outside of the village. However, their impatience was manifesting itself in very different ways. Sasuke was pacing on the very first plank of the bridge which led out of the village with a frown of concentration on his face. Sakura was excitedly babbling to both of her teammates and Naruto outdid both of them by talking and bouncing around the bridge with a huge grin on his face.

Their enthusiasm diminished somewhat as Kakashi did not appear. In the usual way of things, their energy with nowhere to go led to an argument between Sakura and Naruto. Before the argument could get too heated, Kakashi showed up at the bridge with all of their supplies.

"Yo" he greeted them. He cut off their accusations of lateness by telling them that they would each need to carry some of the supplies he had. Kakashi opened one of his bags and selected a bundle. "Sasuke, you get to carry the cooking supplies" he said and tossed a small, sandwich sized bundle at Sasuke. Unfortunately for Sasuke, he was watching the small bundle being tossed at him and had not been closely listening to Kakashi. Sasuke was bowled over by the deceptive weight of the bundle and landed on his back.

"Sorry Sasuke, I forgot to mention I put a shrinking jutsu on all of our supplies" Kakashi said absently as he tossed two other bundles at Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke leveled a glare which could have melted ice at Kakashi, but Kakashi was still rummaging around in his bag. The other two caught their shrunken bundles carefully as Kakashi explained the hand gestures and words to shrink and unshrink the bundles.

After Kakashi had distributed the supplies and everyone had adjusted to the new weight they had to carry, they set off across the bridge. As they walked, Kakashi allowed his mind to drift. Once they got further away from the village he would have to pay more attention, but for now he could relax since Konoha was patrolled for several miles outward by specially trained ninja.

Before he had come to meet his students at the bridge, Kakashi had gone to the memorial stone as he always did before long missions. The tall, imposing rock was a very familiar place to Kakashi. There were so many names he knew which were on the stone. When he had gone to the stone that morning he had placed one hand on the cold, grey surface and traced his fingers along the names which he knew. "Obito" he had whispered before he left "Look after the village."

There were other names on the stone which were important to him, but it was to Obito he felt the greatest debt. He briefly touched the eye he kept covered. Obito's last gift to him. A debt he could never repay.

He shook his head to clear it of his melancholy thoughts and caught the end of a conversation between Naruto and Sasuke.

"Plllllease Sasuke," Naruto was saying "I just want to look."

"No" Sasuke replied stonily.

"Please" Naruto said again.

This time Sasuke simply frowned and shook his head.

"But, there might be ramen in the stuff Kakashi gave you" Naruto said.

Sasuke smirked and said to Naruto "That is probably the reason why he would not let you carry the food, you would eat it all."

Naruto fumed but did not do anything else, which was a large improvement from the first time Sasuke had said something like that and Naruto had tried to hit him, reflected Kakshi.

Naruto quickly got over Sasuke's comment and started in on Kakashi instead. "Kakashi-sensei, is there any ramen in the food you brought?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know Naruto" Kakashi answered.

"Well, you should definitely look for some because it's lunchtime" declared Naruto.

Kakashi considered Naruto's statement. Naruto was probably wrong about the ramen, but it was just about time for lunch.

"Alright, I suppose we could eat lunch now" Kakashi said.

They chose a shady spot near the side of road to eat their lunch (which contained no ramen, to Naruto's great disappointment). Sakura tried to give most of her food to Sasuke and was refused every time. When Naruto asked if he could have it she had snapped "No", and started to eat her refused offering to Sasuke in an offended sort of way.

In order to forestall any coming arguments, Kakashi started to discuss what they would need to do on the mission.

"I think for this mission it would be best to use the diamond formation" Kakashi said.

Naruto gave the others a blank look. "What is the diamond formation?" he asked.

"The diamond formation is when one person walks near the front of the group, two walk near the sides, and one walks near the back" Sakura answered.

"I knew that" Naruto said sheepishly. Sakura and Sasuke rolled their eyes.

"We will use this formation and rotate positions" Kakashi continued "unless we are walking in a dangerous area. If the area appears to be dangerous then I will always be at the back position." His students nodded. "Right now I have all of the mail we need to deliver, but if anything happens to me I would like all of you to split the mail equally among the three of you and head for the nearest village." They nodded again. After a short discussion of which weapons and techniques they should use if they were attacked, they finished their lunch and started walking again.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully and the pleasant weather and gentle breeze seemed to make everyone happy. Naruto and Sakura talked to each other and pointed out things they had never seen before, with Sasuke joining in occasionally. Kakashi broke up the occasional argument and read a couple chapters of his favorite book.

Near the end of the afternoon, Kakashi caught the smell of rain on the breeze. He looked upward at the sky and sure enough there were dark clouds slowly coming closer to them. If there was rain coming he wanted to get set up for the night before it came. He told the others he thought they might be getting some rain and they started looking for a place to spend the night.

After they found a suitable spot, he gave his students instructions on how they should set up the camp. Everything was going fine until it started raining. They all ran underneath the tent which Kakashi had set up. Kakashi looked irritably at the rain. Rain made it much easier for someone to sneak up on them since it masked sound so well. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. "I will be the first on guard duty" Kakashi announced. "When my shift is over I will wake one of you up to do the next shift. Who wants guard duty after me?" he asked.

"Guard duty?" asked Naruto.

"Are we all sharing one tent?" asked Sakura.

"I don't have an umbrella" added Sasuke.

Kakashi inwardly groaned and hoped he was not in for a long night.

To Be Continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 3

Unfortunately for Kakashi, it was a long night, but the loss of sleep was made up by a gain of information. Kakashi learned three new bits of information about his students that night. The first new piece of information he learned was that Naruto snored. Very loudly. The second was that Sasuke talked in his sleep, much to the interest of  
Sakura. The final new piece of information which Kakashi learned was that Sakura was terrified of thunderstorms. Not snakes, or mice, or spiders like some people Kakashi knew, but thunderstorms.

It was his new knowledge of Sakura which Kakashi gained first. Soon after they had finally agreed on who would do guard duty at what time, a bright streak of lightning lit up the sky followed by a huge clap of thunder. Sakura let out a startled shriek and covered her ears with her hands, while her fellow teammates looked on in puzzlement.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" asked a concerned Naruto.

Another clap of thunder sounded and Sakura flinched. "I'm fine" she whispered, "Thunderstorms just remind me of…" but she shook her head and did not complete the sentence. "It's nothing" she said softly.

_Remind you of what?_, Kakashi wondered.

Since the thunderstorm showed no signs of stopping, and Sakura's fear of thunderstorms was likely to keep her from sleeping, Kakashi decided she should share the first shift of guard duty with him.

During guard duty she sat beside Kakashi in a pink raincoat which matched her hair, shivering slightly and clutching her kunai even tighter whenever the thunder rumbled. Kakashi was unsure what he should do about her fear. Like Naruto he asked if she was alright, but received the same answer she had given earlier.

Near the end of their guard shift the storm drifted away and Sakura seemed to become happier. Kakashi could tell she was feeling better because she started to become much more talkative.

"Kakashi-sensei, how far do you think we walked today?"

"Not sure" he replied.

"How much further do we have to go?"

"I don't know the exact distance Sakura."

"Why-" she started to say, but was cut off by a yawn.

Kakashi stood up. "I think it's time for Sasuke's turn" he said. "Why don't you go wake him up Sakura."

"OK" she said with another yawn.

Sasuke drifted out of the tent several minutes later still looking slightly sleepy. Kakashi gave him some instructions and an umbrella and went to join Sakura and Naruto.

Naruto's snores, which sounded soft outside of the tent, seemed to double in volume when Kakashi stepped inside. Sakura was looking at the snoring Naruto with irritation.

"I can't fall asleep with all the noise he is making" she complained. "At least when Sasuke was talking in his sleep he was not very loud."

"What was Sasuke saying when he was talking in his sleep?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Sakura frowned. "He just kept saying no, no, no over and over again." She looked at Naruto again. "Can't you do something about his snoring?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"But…I don't want to be awake the whole night. Please Kakashi-sensei…"

Kakashi thought for a moment. An irritated Sakura was not someone he wanted to have on his hands tomorrow, but short of knocking Naruto unconscious he doubted there was anything he could do to stop the noise.

"I could put you to sleep" he told Sakura.

"Really? How?"

"Like this."

Before Sakura could question him further he quickly put a finger to her forehead, and let a small surge of chakra escape. Sakura was asleep within seconds. Before she fell to the ground Kakashi caught her in his arms and gently laid her down.

As he reclined between Sakura and Naruto, Kakashi listened for unusual sounds outside of the tent. He trusted Sasuke, but Sasuke was inexperienced and might miss sounds which would indicate danger. He doubted he would fall asleep anyway. He never slept well on missions.

As he lay there in the dark, he wondered if he should do anything about Sakura. _She has family problems_ echoed Iruka's voice in his head. Kakashi snorted. Like he knew anything about that. He could not even remember his mother and as for his father, he preferred not to think about him at all. It brought back too many unpleasant memories. He had no brothers or sisters and anyone else he had ever been close to was dead. His students were the only family he had now. He would do his best to teach and protect them, but he doubted he could compensate for the variety of family problems they each had. _I'll focus on the mission for now, _thought Kakashi. _Maybe a solution will present itself later._

Kakashi eventually drifted into a light doze which was briefly interrupted when Naruto and Sasuke switched places. The next time he awoke it was to the gentle pattering of rain on the roof of the tent.

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 4

Naruto poked his head into the tent. "Kakashi-sensei, it's raining again!"

"I know Naruto" Kakashi replied as he sat up slowly and ran a hand through his hair. As Naruto bounded into the tent, a gust of wind blew in through the opening and sprayed everyone with cold water. Kakashi wiped the droplets from his face and asked Naruto if he had seen anything unusual during his shift of guard duty.

"Nope!" Naruto replied as he took off his raincoat and scattered even more water droplets around the tent, "But Sasuke says he might have seen something."

The cold water and Naruto's voice soon woke the other two up.

"Sasuke, Naruto said you might have seen something last night?" inquired Kakashi.

"Ummm" said Sasuke sleepily, "There might have been something, I heard some noises, but when I looked around there was no evidence of anyone being there." He paused "I suppose it could have been a small animal" he added.

Kakashi shrugged. "We will continue to be careful."

They ate breakfast inside of the tent since it was still raining, then quickly packed up everything and started walking towards their destination.

The rain continued the entire morning and by the middle part of the day it seemed to get even heavier.

Naruto had found some ramen in their supplies and was very insistent that they should eat it for lunch. The others agreed with him for once since anything hot would help to take away the cold chill of the rain. The only problem with making ramen was they needed boiling water and for boiling water they needed a fire.

They found a place under some pine trees and eventually they got a small fire started by holding their only umbrella over it.

Eating the ramen was another problem. They all had raincoats, but there was only one umbrella. In order to prevent the raindrops from splashing into their food they had to huddle together under the umbrella. With much pushing and shoving from the younger three ninja, they finally all got out of the rain.

After gulping down his portion Kakashi took out his book and started to read. Sakura took this opportunity to inch towards Sasuke. Still reading his book, Kakashi absently put an arm around her shoulder to prevent her from moving towards Sasuke. Naruto tried to move towards Sakura, but in the process tripped Sasuke who was dismally looking out at the rain and looked like he wished he could be anywhere except where he was. As Sasuke started to fall Kakashi grabbed him around the waist to prevent him from falling over. Sasuke glared at Naruto and flicked Kakshi's hand off of his waist.

Kakashi snapped his book shut in exasperation and gave Sakura and Naruto a look that said _stop that. _Naruto just grinned and Sakura blushed.

"Since everyone seems to have finished lunch we should be moving on" said Kakashi.

They formed the diamond position again and started walking towards Water country.

* * *

By nightfall they were within the reaches of a village and the rain had still not stopped. They stayed at an inn that night and it was then with everyone's defenses lowered that the first attempt was made to steal the mail.

The only warning they had was the soft creaking of a window being opened. By the time the stranger in the dark blue clothes had entered the room through the window Kakashi was fully awake with his alert students behind him. For several seconds the newcomer and Kakashi stared each other down. There was little that they could learn from his appearance. The person which Kakashi and his students faced was covered head to toe in dark blue with only his eyes showing. There was no forehead protector or anything which might identify where this person may have come from.

Kakashi noted all of these things in the few seconds before the stranger unleashed a barrage of kunai, not at Kakashi, but behind him. Kakashi blocked most of them and heard clangs behind him which indicated his students had defended against the ones he was unable to deflect. After the kunai had been thrown, they quickly moved to surround the stranger on all sides.

Naruto unleashed several of his shadow clones who attempted to attack the person in the center of the circle. He gave a grunt of dismay as the person disappeared in a puff of smoke before the clones could attack. The stranger appeared behind Sakura and grabbed her arms. Sakura responded with a kick to the person's knees. As Sakura kicked the unknown attacker, Kakashi quickly grabbed him and threw him against a wall with a resounding crash.

Before the stranger could get up everyone pined him down where he lay on the floor. The stranger snarled and threw off Naruto and Sasuke who were holding his arms down. As he threw off the two boys, he aimed a punch at Kakashi's shoulder. The punch connected and Kakashi gave a grunt of pain, but did not let go of the person.

As soon as the punch was thrown, the stranger turned around and slashed Sakura in the side with a kunai. She gasped but also did not let go. Meanwhile, Naruto had summoned more of his shadow clones and this time with the shadow clones and Sasuke's help they managed to immobilize the person. The person's mask was ripped off revealing him to be a young man. Kakashi kicked him to make sure he would stay down and everyone heard the crack of several ribs break.

As the person's ribs broke, his demeanor completely changed. His eyes widened and he started to shake. "Where am I?" he asked.

"We should be the ones asking questions." Kakashi said. "What were you doing here? Who sent you?" he asked the man sharply.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything. Please let me go" the man said with his voice shaking.

"We'll just see if you don't remember anything" Kakashi replied and uncovered his sharingan.

He stared deeply into the man's eyes as his students held the stranger down so he would not escape. After several minutes of searching through the man's mind there was little he could find. It seemed that the man was telling the truth and had been hypnotized and he truly could not remember what he had been doing or why he was here. Someone had put a block on this person's mind and Kakashi was unable to get around it. It would take someone specially trained in mind jutsus to get past the block. The only piece of information Kakashi could learn was that the man was from the country of fire. This made no sense to Kakashi because he knew fire country dwellers tended to avoid places where it rained a lot. Another mystery.

Kakashi blinked, broke eye contact with the man and then knocked him unconscious. There was nothing more he could learn from this person, it was best to just turn him over to the local village and continue with their mission. "Naruto and Sasuke would you take this person to the large building we passed earlier today?" One of Naruto's shadow clones scooped the stranger up and he and Sasuke walked out of the door.

Kakashi turned away form the door. Time to help Sakura patch up the wound she had gotten.

To Be Continued...


	5. Chapter 5

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 5

Sakura's wound did not appear to be too deep, but Sakura herself was slightly shaken. Kakashi herded her over to a bed and dug out the medical pack he always carried with him. As he searched for some antiseptic and a bandage he watched Sakura out of the corner of his eye. Occasionally, the first time a young ninja was injured or saw someone badly hurt they had an extreme reaction especially if one of their own family members had died or been hurt recently. Sakura however seemed to be holding up fairly well.

Kakashi sat down beside her on the bed and took Sakura's hand away from its place over top of the wound. Sakura gazed dully at her bloody hand for a moment then made a face of horror and frantically tried to rub the blood off of her hand. Kakashi was surprised at her reaction. He had expected her to have a strong reaction to the wound or to express some fear of the ninja they had defeated, but it was the blood which seemed to shock her the most. He had never known any female ninja to be bothered by blood. Maybe she hadn't ever seen a large amount of blood; although given her age he had expected her to have seen it before.

As Sakura tried to rub the blood off of her hand, Kakashi took a hold of her outer pink dress and carefully started to pull it away from the cut. This motion snapped Sakura out of her fixation with the blood on her hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she gave Kakashi an alarmed look and wrapped one arm around the bloody cut.

"I'm trying to get to your wound" he said calmly. "It would be easier if you would cooperate with me."

"But…but" she spluttered "You don't have to take my clothes off."

"Yes I do" he replied evenly. "Why did you think I sent out Sasuke and Naruto? Would you like them to be here while I clean your wound?"

Sakura turned this thought over in her mind and Kakashi said "I'll turn around while you rearrange your clothes so that I can get to your wound."

Sakura still looked slightly flustered, but she nodded and Kakashi turned around.

After Sakura had rearranged her clothes to her liking, Kakashi started to clean the wound. It looked worse than it actually was. By the time Kakashi started to clean it most of the bleeding had stopped and all he had to do was cover it with a bandage.

Kakashi put away his medical kit and sat back down again beside Sakura. She turned to look at him and gave him a hesitant smile.

Kakashi hated to press people for information, but he thought Sakura was more likely to talk to him about her fear of storms if the other two were not around. He gave her a long look and asked if she was alright. She shrugged.

Before Kakashi could ask about her fear of storms, the weather decided to ask for him as a roll of thunder sounded.

Sakura gave a jerk of surprise, then clutched her side as the sudden movement irritated the wound in her side. Before Sakura could move again and possibly do more damage to her wound Kakashi grabbed her hands.

As Sakura tried to remove her hands from his grip he asked her why she was so bothered by storms.

Sakura seemed irritated by the question. "Why does that matter?" she snapped at Kakashi and flinched when lightning lit up the sky.

Kakashi released her hands. "Being a ninja is not just about completing missions. It is also about overcoming personal weaknesses and fears. Learning to fight your fears is just as important as learning to fight enemies."

"I suppose" Sakura grudgingly agreed. She bit her lip and looked at the floor. After several minutes of silence she said "Thunderstorms remind me of when I was younger. When I was ten, I was out in a storm and I broke my arm. Whenever I hear thunder I always think about that." She paused for a moment then added "That was around the time my parents got divorced too."

Kakashi thoughtfully crossed his arms. "I'm sorry to hear that Sakura. But I will try to help you overcome your fear of thunderstorms alright?"

Sakura nodded. "Could you please not tell the other two what I just told you?" she asked him.

"I won't tell the others" promised Kakashi. "But," he added "It might be in your best interest if you told them yourself sometime."

Sakura frowned. "I don't want them to know, especially not Naruto. He would say something stupid about it."

"Naruto just wants to help you" Kakashi said. "You should try showing a little more kindness to him."

Sakura pursed her lips. "I suppose being kind to people ties into being a ninja too?"

Kakashi nodded.

"I'll…try" Sakura said with a sigh.

"Good girl" Kakashi said and ruffled her hair.

By the time Sasuke and Naruto returned, Kakashi was deep into his orange book and Sakura was repairing her torn clothing.

"We would have gotten back sooner but Naruto decided he had other stuff to do" Sasuke said as the two of them walked through the door.

Naruto ignored this statement from Sasuke. "Sakura-chan! I got you some flowers!" he exclaimed excitedly and proceeded to present Sakura with a bunch of red blossoms.

Sakura almost looked like she was going to refuse them, but Kakashi caught her eye and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Err, thanks Naruto" she said as Naruto beamed.

After all of them got a few more hours of sleep they left the village behind as they continued on their way towards the water country to deliver the mail.

To Be Continued...


	6. Chapter 6

**It's Raining! 6**

Chapter 6

Rain, decided Kakashi, was much more irritating than snow. Snow could be easily brushed off, but rain seeped into everything and made it damp. It also seemed to dampen spirits as well. As the four of them walked along the puddle strewn ground everyone seemed slightly more subdued than usual, even Naruto. Maybe they were just thinking about the attack last night. _Or, it could just be the rain_ Kakashi thought, as an especially large drop splashed onto his nose.

At least the mail he was carrying was still dry. Before they had left on the mission Kakashi had acquired a waterproof bag along with their tent and the other supplies they needed. The waterproof bag had done a very good job as Kakashi had found when he checked and counted the mail each night.

After the hypnotized ninja had attacked them Kakashi had done a very careful search of the mail, but nothing was missing. He had also looked more closely at who the letters and scrolls were addressed to. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the scrolls were not even addressed to people, but to offices.

Was the ninja that attacked them last night really after the mail? If he was then who had hypnotized him?

"Sensei, do you think that ninja wanted to steal the mail last night?" asked Naruto in an unconscious echo of Kakashi's thoughts.

"I really don't know Naruto" replied Kakashi. "The mail we are carrying appears to be normal, but there could be something important in one of the letters we are carrying."

Kakashi actually suspected that the ninja from last night was meant to test their strength. There could possibly be someone even stronger next time if they were attacked again. He kept these thoughts to himself. There was no need to alarm his students.

* * *

The next several days were quiet. No one attacked them and it appeared that no one was watching them during the night. The rain continued to pour down with only brief periods of dry weather.

When they were about two days away from the place where they would deliver the mail, they came across a bridge which was out and helped out the villagers who were repairing it. As they left the village Kakashi hoped that the only obstacles they would face before they delivered the mail would be more broken bridges.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 7

There was no warning this time. The attack seemed to come out of nowhere.

The rain had ceased to a steady drizzle and the four of them were passing through a thick pine grove when an explosion of smoke erupted at their feet. They immediately drew close together, back to back to protect each other.

As the seconds ticked by and no attack came, Kakashi narrowed his eyes against the smoke which was not dispersing. He was about to tell his students they should move to a different position when out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto start to sway slightly.

The fine mist which he had assumed was a smoke bomb was probably some type of sleeping or poison gas. It had not affected him yet since he was wearing a mask. He quickly turned around to tell the younger ninjas to hold their breath, but it was too late. Sakura was already in a heap on the ground and Naruto was slumped next to her. Sasuke must have detected the gas because he was still standing.

Kakashi picked up Sakura and motioned for Sasuke to pick up Naruto. With Sakura in his arms, Kakashi ran out of the cloud of gas, with Sasuke following close behind. As Kakashi ran out of the gas he looked at his surroundings to see if there were any people or ninja nearby.

He could detect nothing. The only things he could see were the thick clumps of gas hanging in the air and the tall pines which surrounded them on all sides.

Kakashi continued running and took a sharp turn off of the road near some prickly bushes which would offer them a small amount of protection. Still hyper alert for any sudden movement, he laid Sakura down near the base of one of the pine trees and Sasuke did the same with Naruto.

Kakashi checked Naruto's and Sakura's pulses. He could feel both beating steadily through their wrists. He blew out his breath in a sigh of relief. That was good. If it had been poison gas then their pulses would have been much weaker.

"Stay with them and guard them, I'm going to look around" Kakashi said to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and took out several kunai.

Just as Kakashi was putting down the packs containing some of their supplies, two blue clad figures shot out of the deeper forest and snatched up the bag containing the mail.

"Stay here!" Kakashi barked at Sasuke and ran after the figures who had grabbed the mail bag.

Sasuke watched Kakashi run into the forest and tightly curled his hands around one of his weapons. Why did he have to stay here? He knew his technique was the best of the three. _He _should be the one going after the people who took the mail.

Sasuke sighed. Why was he the one who had to look after the other two?

He eyed the two still bodies and then looked away quickly. He didn't like to admit it, but he hated to be around anyone who was unconscious. Unconscious people reminded him too much of when his family had been killed.

To keep himself busy Sasuke started to walk around the area and tried to see if he could find any traces of the people who had taken the mail. As he walked along the soft carpet of pine needles searching for any traces, he glanced up now and then to be sure Sakura and Naruto were still safe.

A short time later, when he realized Kakashi would not be coming back soon, he decided to set up their small tent.

After he had set the tent up he went over to the still unconscious Naruto to drag him into the tent. He grasped one of Naruto's wrists, but yanked his hand back when his warm hand met Naruto's cold wrist. Sasuke froze as he struggled within his mind to keep away the memories of cold, lifeless bodies. He gritted his teeth and tried to think of other things as he hurriedly pulled Naruto then Sakura into the tent.

Usually he could keep the unpleasant memories walled off behind a front of anger for his brother, along with thoughts of revenge, but Sakura and Naruto's still forms kept invading his sight along with memories of his murdered family.

* * *

Hours passed by and Kakashi still had not returned. Sasuke was starting to get sleepy and slightly bored. He had walked around in the pine trees to keep himself awake and to look for enemies, but he had found nothing, not even footprints. As the drizzle started to become heavier, Sasuke went to sit at the front of the tent to keep out of the rain. He glanced towards Naruto and Sakura. They were still in the same position as they had been for several hours, but he knew they were alright by the steady rise and fall of their chests.

Sasuke watched rain drip off the trees and his thoughts turned to his brother as they often did. What was his brother doing? Where was he? Sasuke wondered if his brother expected him to confront him one day. He curled his hands into fists and smiled grimly. When he did confront his brother he would make sure he was strong enough to defeat him completely and he would make sure that his brother would understand all the pain he had caused for both Sasuke and the village. He would defeat him…one day.

As thoughts of his brother continued to drift through his mind, Sasuke realized that the rain had suddenly stopped. In fact, it seemed to be sunny outside.

Sasuke frowned and got up from his sitting position near the entrance to the tent. It should have been getting darker, not lighter. In addition to the sunlight there seemed to be a fog outside as well. Sasuke took a careful breath of the air. It did not have the same smell as the gas from earlier, so maybe this was just a normal fog.

He took several more cautious steps away from the tent and squinted through the bright sunlight. There was very little he could see with the fog in the way. As he started to walk away from the tent he realized he seemed to be moving slower than normal, as if his entire body was made of metal. His sharingan eyes snapped into focus as he realized that someone might be using a mind confusing jutsu.

He looked around with his sharingan enhanced vision, but the sunlight and fog remained. As he started to walk away from the tent he had a vague sense that he had been in a situation like this before. He almost tripped over something on the ground while he was trying to figure out why this situation seemed so familiar.

As he started to examine the thing on the ground he got a shock when he realized that it was a person. He backed away from the person on the ground and almost fell over another still figure which Sasuke knew had not been there a minute ago.

The fog started to lift and Sasuke saw that he was no longer in the woods. He seemed to be back in Konoha. But… everywhere he looked he saw still forms lying on the ground or slumped next to each other. Confused, Sasuke tentatively walked to the nearest body and carefully looked to see who it was. As he turned the body over with his foot he lost his balance as he saw who it was.

It was himself.

Sasuke screamed.

* * *

Oooh...cliffhanger. To be continued...


	8. Chapter 8

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 8

Kakashi slowly walked back to where he had left Sasuke and the other two. Retrieving the mailbag had taken him longer than he had thought it would. The two unknown ninja had put up a good fight, but in the end Kakashi had gotten the mailbag back, though it had cost him a burn on the leg and what felt like a pulled muscle.

As he got within sight of the place where his three students were located he heard someone scream. _Sasuke!, _he thought with alarm and broke into a run.

As Kakashi entered the small pine grove at a run he was surprised to find that there were no enemies, but understood a moment later the reasons for Sasuke's screams as he looked more closely at him. Sasuke seemed to be having a nightmare.

Kakashi put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and gently shook them. Sasuke snapped awake and when he saw who it was that had woken him up, immediately turned away from Kakashi.

"I would have been awake if you had gotten back sooner" Sasuke mumbled with his back still facing Kakashi.

Kakashi did not reply. Instead he walked over to the tent where Naruto and Sakura were. He checked their pulses and noted that their breathing seemed to be better.

"Sasuke-kun what were dreaming about?" asked Kakashi as he walked out of the tent.

"Nothing!" said Sasuke.

"I highly doubt you were dreaming about nothing Sasuke" replied Kakashi quietly.

Sasuke got up and started to walk away. Kakashi swiftly walked after him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Sasuke I-" Kakashi started to say.

"Let go of me" said Sasuke irritably as he tried to pull away from Kakashi.

Kakashi did not let go. "I have nightmares too, Sasuke" Kakashi said softly.

Sasuke stopped struggling for a moment as he turned this revelation over in his mind. Kakashi took this opportunity to put one hand carefully on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Do you dream about your family?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke said nothing, but flinched slightly which was the only answer Kakashi needed.

"Sasuke, everyone has their own problems and pasts. I don't care if you want to keep them to yourself, but you can't keep denying what happened. If you keep ignoring the past by only thinking about the future and revenge, you will become exactly like your brother. Maybe you don't care what you become, but the rest of do."

Sasuke finally turned around to face Kakashi. "You just don't want me to become too strong" he sneered.

"No" said Kakashi, "We just want you to be able to reach your highest potential. If you insist on doing only as you choose without following the advice of others you will not be able to become the best ninja you have the ability to be."

"All of your former teachers have said you are one of the most talented ninja they have seen for a long time; we want you to succeed not just because of your talent, but because you can take a major tragedy and produce something useful out of it. Not because of revenge."

"And" added Kakashi "All of you teachers admire you."

Sasuke had opened his mouth to let off another biting remark, but after Kakashi's statement, the only thing he did was stare at Kakashi in shock. Before Sasuke could pull back, Kakashi gently brushed his hand along Sasuke's cheek, then let it rest there.

Sasuke shut his eyes and gritted his teeth as he struggled against his emotions. "I don't care" he gasped out.

"All of us care about you even if you don't care about yourself Sasuke" Kakashi replied quietly.

As Sasuke lowered his head to hide his overflowing eyes, Kakashi left his hand on Sasuke's wet cheek. He thought about pulling Sasuke closer, but he doubted that the boy would submit to being hugged. Sasuke turned his back to Kakashi again, but did not pull away from him this time.

Eventually, Sasuke fell asleep and Kakashi gathered Sasuke up in his arms and laid him next to the other two. After he had carefully set Sasuke down, Kakashi watched his three sleeping students breathing slowly in and out. His little family…he would do his best to protect them.

To Be Continued...


	9. Chapter 9

**It's Raining!**

Chapter 9

Epilogue

The mission had ended several days ago. After they had finally delivered the mail to the proper people, Kakashi had learned that many of the ordinary looking scrolls which he had been carrying were actually important documents only meant for the resident hokage. That was why there had been more trouble than Kakashi had expected.

As for why all of the ninja trying to steal the mail had been from the fire country, there was a diplomatic dispute between the water and fire countries right now. If any of the fire country ninja had gotten a hold of any of the mail Kakashi was carrying it could have been a disaster for the water country.

The mission had changed Kakashi's students in subtle, but noticeable ways. Sakura continued to be irritated by Naruto, but she did not react to him as badly as she used to. Sasuke was still as closed as he ever was, but slightly less sullen. Naruto seemed slightly more willing to work as a team with the others, perhaps because of his teammates' positive changes.

As Kakashi was turning in the final report of the mission, he happened to meet up with Iruka.

"How did the mission go?" asked Iruka anxiously.

"It went" replied Kakashi. "No one was killed, no major wounds."

Iruka nodded. "That's good."

As Kakashi turned to leave the building Iruka called after him: "Be careful it's raining really hard out there."

Kakashi sighed and covered his face with a hand. _I never want to hear the phrase "it's raining" again for a very long time _he thought to himself.

**End.**


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